Demology
by Naheniel
Summary: This Story follows the episode 4 x 17, however I made some changes to the characters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:This is a rewrite of the Criminal Minds Episode 4 x 17 Demonolgy.**

**However I changed some details: Mathew was changed into the son of Russian diplomats, and his name is now Alexander Ivanov, his parents are Peter and Irina. Also Emily does not leave the bar for the BAU right away. I might make it entirely different in the following, but the basics are taken form this Episode.**

**Enjoy!**

**In response to an anonymous review I recieved (and which I removed as this issue was spoken about in my AN): YES I changed the name and background of Emily's friend (please read above note or the story to find out what kind of changes I made). I appreciate you noticed the change but this was by no means an accident :)  
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After she had fled the bar, where John had told her about the death of their friend Alexander, Emily hurried around the next corner and started to sob violently. Alex and her ad been friends since they had both lived in Italy, and they had lived through a lot of difficult times together, without their friendship breaking apart.

It took her a while, before she was able to recapitulate, what John had told her: Alex had been scared of someone or something just before he died! John was even sure that something was weird about what Alex' parents had told him, despite a heart attack being the reason of his death.

While she wiped away her tears, she decided that she would have to talk with the team about this. Maybe they could help her to figure out if John's suspicion about a connection between Alex and this Tommy he mentioned, were true or just the fantasy of a devastated friend.

She would have to talk to his parents, Peter and Irina Ivanov. Making all those plans had made her feel better, so she got out of the corner she was hiding in, and slowly walked back to her car. She longed for the silence of her home. Perhaps she would look at some pictures of Alex and get drunk. Yes that was actually a good idea at times like this. With a deep sigh, she then started the engine of her SUV and drove off...

The next day, Emily got up early. Her head was aching from the wine she had been drinking in the night, and when she looked around in her apartment, there were still pictures scattered around all over the couch and the small table in front if it. Rubbing her throbbing head, she looked out of the windows, and saw that the weather was mirroring how she felt: cold, dark and grey. Dawn wouldn't come for another hour, nevertheless Emily got up and dressed herself for work. As she needed some fresh air, she decided to walk at least some of the distance to work and get a cab on the way for the rest.

About an hour later, a totally wet Emily thus left the elevator of the BAU, just when Garcia approached it. The analyst's jaws dropped, as she saw her friend coming out of the elevator in this state and walked her into the, still empty, bullpen to her desk.

"Hey what´s wrong sugar plum?" she asked, sounding worried.

"Garcia, can you do me a favour and look something up for me?" Emily said, without answering her question. As Garcia nodded slowly, she continued "His name is Tommy Valentine, he died sometime last week, I need his file!"

"Sure..." Garcia answered, slightly taken aback, but rushed to her office just to return with a file a few minutes later.

"I found it, it´s like you said he died last week, but of natural cause."

"Thanks, did you see Hotch here already?"

"Uh sure, I mean he lives here. But... Em, what's up?"

"I´ll tell you... later. I need to talk with Hotch" and with those words, Emily made towards Hotch's office. Garcia shook his head and dug in her handbag to find her cell. She had to phone the others, something was really wrong with Emily and they needed to do something about it.

Meanwhile Emily knocked at the door to Hotch's office and entered, after the soft-spoken "Come in." from her boss.

Just as Emily closed the door behind her silently, Hotch looked up from the file, he was currently working on, and nearly let his pen drop in shock. Emily looked terrible, dripping from her long dark hair and her eyes reddened.

"A friend of mine died yesterday" she started, speaking with a slightly rough voice. Immediately Hotch got up from behind his desk and walked to Emily, and looked at her with concern. Emily meant a lot to him and seeing her like this made him want to just step over and take her into an embrace to comfort her. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, usually he could shut away the wish to let Emily Prentiss know what he felt, but when she looked so despaired, he just wanted to be able to comfort her.

"Maybe you should take a few days off..." Hotch started silently, but stopped when she shook her head.

"He might have been murdered... a friend told me he was afraid of something, and there might be someone else." Emily stammered slowly holding up the file she was still clutching.

"What do you need?" He replied.

"I want to work on this, I need to know if it´s true!"

"Then let us help at least.", Hotch answered after a moment and looked intently at her. Meeting hies worried gaze, Emily nodded.

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AN: Please do tell me how you like the start of this story. It will hold some major surprizes in the future!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

AN:The next chapter, so far I think I´m sticking to the episode, but I will move away from it soon.

Enjoy!

Together, both agents left Hotch's office and Emily went to Garcia's office.

"Hey, uhm could you bring the file of Alexander Ivanov to the conference room?" Emily asked, looking sheepishly at the blonde analyst. Garcia was still a bit miffed at Emily's odd behaviour, but seeing the look on her friend's face, she just nodded.

"Sure, you run ahead, I´ll bring it with me!"

Meanwhile Hotch called the rest of the team, so Emily could explain them the case.

Only ten minutes later, Hotch started explaining what happened to Reid, JJ and Garcia.

"We are trying to find out if there is a connection between these two deaths." Hotch started, and spread two files on the table, "Here we have Alexander Ivanov, he died from a heart attack, according to the coroner. However according to his friends he was apparently afraid of someone being after him, and according to Emily he was healthy. No reason for him to have a heart attack for any reason, this also coincides with the report we have from the coroner. He had no diseases or medical conditions that could trigger a heart attack. And here, " he motioned to the second file," is the file of Tommy Valentine, died from dehydration. We are looking for connections between the two deaths. This might lead to nothing but Ivanov was a friend of Prentiss and we are helping her to follow the suspicion of him fearing someone. I should like to point out that the police is not investigating here. We are merely helping a friend. Now lets look at those files, while Prentiss and Morgan are at the morgue." with that, Hotch fell silent, and gave the others the chance to view the files.

While the rest of the team where examining the files, Morgan and Emily arrived at the morgue. After a short chat with the coroner, they were admitted to the mortuary and were shown the stretcher where Alexander was lying. Carefully the coroner removed the blanket over the body and told them, that he would wait in his office until they were done.

Emily closed her eyes at the first sight of her former best friend. She could hardly bear to look at him, but she was alerted by Morgan´s surprised exclamations when he looked at the dead man's wrist.

"Heh, Prentiss look at this!" he exclaimed motioning to Alexander's wrists: there were rope burns. Emily slowly opened her eyes, and looked into her dead friend's face for a few moments, before she stepped around the stretcher and looked at his hands. Morgan was right those dark purple marks on his wrists were clearly from ropes!

Having heard Morgan's exclamations, the coroner came back, and watched Emily taking the deceased hands.

"Those are definitely artificial." he said, and closely draped the blanket over the body again, "he also had severe nose-bleeding, which is explained by former use of drugs, but I have absolutely no idea why he had a heart attack. There are no indications."

"Did you also examine the body of Tommy Valentine?" Morgan asked with a grave voice. He had attributed the suspicion of murder to the fantasy of this guy, John Cooley, but those rope burns gave the matter a whole different turn.

"Yes, I did examine him. Just like with Mr. Ivanov I can't explain what happened to him. He was severely dehydrated, but he was otherwise in perfect health. No malnourishment of any kind, except for the time he died. And he had similar burn marks. I´m afraid his body was cremated already though." the coroner told them.

"Thank you for that information." Morgan replied, and turned towards Emily, who had grown pale. After his silent nod towards the exit, she responded though, and walked back to the SUV absentmindedly.

Just as Morgan and Emily got back, the rest of the team had already started discussing the files they had just read.

" I fail to see a connection between a heart attack and dehydration." Reid started, looking at both files, "both are natural causes of death. The statistics tell us that a heart attack is rare at such a young age, but it is not entirely impossible. Also it says here that Ivanov has, though years ago, used drugs. Maybe this affected how his body reacted?"

"That wouldn´t explain rope burns though." Morgan said, with a nod towards Hotch. "And the coroner told us that both Ivanov and Valentine did not have any predispositions to dying the way they did, aside of that Valentine also had those rope burns. The coroner showed us a picture."

"Well this changes things." Hotch replied, and turned around towards the door where Emily was still standing. She looked too pale, and he was not sure if she could stand to listen to their discussion any longer. He had to make a decision, so he turned back to his team"We will continue investigating. But we need to do so with a clear mind. I want all of you to leave early today, while I draw up the papers and notify the police department that is responsible."

With that, Hotch dismissed them all, and slowly filed out of the room. When he turned back to where Emily had just stood, he found the place empty, apparently she had left the room already. So he followed Rossi, who shared a worried glance with him, outside and looked down to the bullpen. Emily was silently talking with Reid, both with grave expressions.

"Reid, I need you to do me a favour..." Emily started, looking up to the young man´s guilty looking face.

"Look I´m sorry, I didn't mean to sound heartless up there.." he started, but she shook her head.

"It's not about that. I want to visit Alex' parents. I have known the family for so long, and there is something else but I can´t explain that to you now. I walked here this morning so I don´t have my car here."

" Oh of course I can do that!" Reid answered, apparently relieved, that Emily didn't hold a grudge against him.

AN: Please do tell me how you like it so far. I would be happy to get any opinions!


	3. Chapter 3

AN:Here is chapter 3. I will reveal some major surprize in this chapter.

Enjoy!

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Hotch watched his two agents talking from the entrance of the conference room. He felt a slight streak of jealousy. He had hoped he would have the chance to talk alone with her after the others had left, to offer her some comfort. But maybe she wouldn't want him approaching her. He sighed. This was a huge mess, he wanted to talk to Emily for some time now, but he couldn't possibly do that now that a friend of her was possibly murdered. While he watched Reid walk away with Emily, he decided, that he would talk with her after they had solved this 'case'.

Completely oblivious to the pondering of their boss, Reid motioned towards the elevator, which earned him a faint smile from Emily. She had thought about this all day, not sure whom to ask for this favour, but asking Reid was probably after all the best option. He would help her without arguing and without asking questions. She had considered asking Hotch, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that. She had noticed him looking at her with an odd expression, which made her quite uneasy. She would never admit it to anyone, but she had come find herself thinking about him way too often lately, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to conceal it from Hotch any longer if she took him along.

Still absorbed in those thoughts, Emily got into the passenger seat of Reid's black SUV, they all had one like this as a company car, only Rossi and her had their own ones, making slight adjustments to the cars.

"Where do the Ivanov's live?" Reid asked, and slammed the door shut, wincing slightly at the noise.

"Sorry?" Emily answered, suddenly pulled out of her thoughts.

"Where do I have to drive?" Reid repeated his question in a calm voice.

"Oh here is the address, sorry Reid" she answered, giving him a piece of paper. She felt his uneasiness and tried to calm herself a bit, while he drove off.

"Look, before we get there, you need to know a few things about me: I met Alex when I was 15 and he was 17, we were both a bit wild as teenagers, drinking, going out, drugs, the whole thing. I´m not proud of it but there were reasons. We were really close friends, even though we were never together. Just don´t ask any questions tonight OK? You and the others will get all the answers you need soon, but I don´t think I can face the questions today." Emily told him, what Reid would see of her today, would probably change his view of her forever, and she didn't even dare to think what the rest of the team would say or do. Relieved, she saw him nodding.

"Sure, I'm here as a friend and nothing what you tell me in confidence will ever leave this car." he answered. He had no idea what was awaiting him, but it must be serious, judging by the way Emily was talking with him.

"So, genius, do you speak any Russian?" she then asked, reassured by his words.

"A little."

With that they both grew silent again, until Reid pulled over near the address, which Emily had given her.

It took the Ivanovs just a few minutes to reply to the doorbell. But the elderly couple did not look very welcoming, instead they told Emily and Reid to wait outside while they got the bags. Reid gave Emily a rather questioning look, but remained silent until the older woman returned and dropped a bag on the porch and shoved a 5 year old girl at them. Without a word, she then closed the door and apparently went away.

Reid, who had expected almost everything but what had just happened, looked at the child dumbfounded. She was about 5, he estimated, and was rather skinny with a pale complexion, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Remembering the promise which he gave Emily, he took the duffel bag from the floor and watched the girl throwing herself into Emily's arm, sobbing loudly.

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AN: Well there it is, I hope you liked the quite unexpected turn :) . I would be happy to get any opinions!


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